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Soldier's case dominated by testimony on suicide

Published on NewsOK
Modified: December 11, 2012 at 3:24 pm •
Published: December 11, 2012

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FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — In a military hearing for Pfc. Bradley Manning that has unfolded over the past two weeks, the reams of classified documents he is accused of leaking have barely come up. Instead, the proceedings have focused on a bedsheet noose, confiscated clothes and whether Manning seriously contemplated killing himself with flip-flops or the elastic waistband of his underwear.

FILE - In this Nov. 28, 2012 file photo, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, center, steps out of a security vehicle as he is escorted into a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., for a pretrial hearing. A military judge hears closing arguments on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2012, on whether a private charged with sending classified material to WikiLeaks suffered illegal pretrial punishment during nine months in a Marine Corps brig. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning’s lawyers claim his treatment was so egregious that all charges should be dismissed. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, HO)

The 24-year-old former Army intelligence analyst is trying to get the charges against him thrown out, arguing that the military held him in unduly harsh conditions for nine months to punish him after his 2010 arrest on suspicion of turning over military and diplomatic secrets to the website WikiLeaks.

The Pentagon has said that Manning was a suicide risk and that it was only trying to keep him from hurting himself and others when it confined him to a windowless, 6-by-8-foot cell in the Marine Corps brig at Quantico, Va., for 23 hours a day.

Legal experts say the chances of the case being thrown out are slim, but Manning could win extra credit for the time he has served if he is ultimately convicted at a court-martial and sentenced to prison. He faces 22 charges, including aiding the enemy, which carries a maximum of life behind bars.

The pretrial hearing drew to a close Tuesday. The military judge gave no indication of when she might rule.

Defense attorney David Coombs said during closing arguments that the military was worried more about its image than about Manning.

"They were more concerned with how it would look if something happened to Pfc. Manning ... than they were about whether Pfc. Manning was actually at risk," Coombs said. "Their approach was, 'Let's not have anything happen on our watch. Let's not let anything happen that's going to make us look bad.'"

The highlight of the 10-day hearing was Manning's testimony, his first public comments since his May 2010 arrest. Manning said he got so used to leg irons and being locked up for most of the day that when he was finally transferred to medium-security confinement at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., in April 2011, he felt uneasy moving freely around the cellblock.

During his nine months at the Quantico brig, commanders maintained the extra restrictions despite repeated recommendations by brig psychiatrists that they be eased. Manning was issued scratchy, suicide-prevention bedding, and sometimes all his clothing, including his underwear, was removed from his cell, along with his glasses and reading material.

"All logic by anyone who could affect change for Pfc. Manning was checked at the door," Coombs said.

At one point during his testimony, Manning donned a dark-green, suicide-prevention smock resembling an oversized tank top made of stiff, thick fabric. He said it was similar to one he was issued in March 2011 after he told a guard — out of frustration, he said — that if he really wanted to hurt himself, he could have done so with his underwear waistband or flip-flops.

"I was venting a little bit," Manning testified Nov. 29. He said he told the guard: "If I really wanted to hurt myself, wouldn't I just use the things that are here now — the underwear, the flip-flops? They could potentially be used as something to harm oneself or others. Where does it stop? Does it stop with removing walls? Does it stop with padding? Does it stop with a straitjacket?"